Publishing giant Bauer Media Group has registered a new trade mark in Australia for the word ‘Glossy’.

The term ‘glossy magazine’ is a regularly used expression in the media industry, and is even listed in the Macmillan Dictionary, defined as:

A magazine printed on shiny paper, containing a lot of bright fashionable pictures but not much serious information

Bauer Media Group publishes glossy magazines such as ELLE and Cosmopolitan, and has filed trade marks for ‘Glossy’ a number of times over the years.

The original trade mark appears to have been lodged in 2007 by ACP Mastheads (screenshot), the publishing company that Bauer acquired in 2012. This trade mark was registered under Class 41, covering ‘Judging of cars’, and was never added to the trade mark register and has since lapsed.

A second trade mark by ACP Mastheads was registered in 2009 (screenshot) under Class 16, covering printing, and Class 41, covering publishing. This trade mark was also never added to the trade mark register and has lapsed.

The third trade mark was lodged by ACP Mastheads in 2010 (screenshot) under Class 16, covering ‘Staplers’. This application was withdrawn in 2012, shortly after the Bauer acquisition.

A fourth trade mark was filed by Bauer Media in July 2012 (screenshot), and registered under Class 16, covering ‘Staple Removers’. This trade mark is currently ‘Under Examination’, with a decision due soon.

The newest trade mark was filed last week, on May 1, by Bauer Media (screenshot) and is registered under Class 16, covering magazines and printing, and Class 41, covering publishing, competitions and online information.

Class 41: Publishing; arranging, organising, hosting, presenting and conducting competitions; entertainment services; cultural services; production of television and radio shows; interactive games services; publication of information on global computer networks including the Internet

The trade mark is currently at the status of ‘Indexing Approved’.

This article will be updated with any more information about the ‘Glossy’ trade mark as it arises.

All these trade mark applications were classed under “Publishing of newspapers” and were filed, not by Schwartz Media, but by ‘Media Might Pty Ltd’ and ‘Billion Group Pty Ltd’, which both have Sydney addresses.

Schwartz Media, however, is based in Melbourne, so the trade marks may not be associated with the publisher – therefore, the filing of “The Saturday Paper” would potentially warrant a trade mark opposition by Schwartz Media if it is not connected to Media Might and Billion Group.

Meanwhile, a number of currently unused domains have been registered using the aforementioned terms.

Furthermore, the domain TheSaturdayWeekly.com.au was registered on June 20 last year by ‘The Monthly’, the name of another Schwartz Media publication.

And finally, the domain TheWeekendPaper.com.au was registered by ‘Media Might Pty Ltd’, although no date is given for when this domain was registered.

The contact associated with this final domain, and therefore presumably linked to ‘Media Might Pty Ltd’, is the email of Sydney businessman George Bancs.

According to an online profile, Bancs is director of a number of companies, including the other trade mark registrant ‘Billion Group’. His Twitter profile states that he is interested in “early stage startups”.

An online search appears to find no obvious current connection between Bancs and Schwartz Media, so it is unclear whether the trade marks and TheWeekendPaper.com.au domain are associated with the publisher of The Saturday Paper or not.

UPDATE

22 April 2014: ‘Media Might Pty Ltd’ and ‘Billion Group Pty Ltd’ have lodged more trade marks in recent weeks, this time for the logo of each of the nine terms listed above.

All the logos are in the style of the one pictured above, and the trade marks were all lodged on April 13.

The trade marks all cover exactly one class, “Class 16: Newspapers”, and are at the status of ‘Indexing Approved’, meaning they have not been seen by an IP examiner yet.

American gaming publisher Wizards of the Coast has registered a trade mark in Australia for the term ‘Magic Origins’.

This comes a fortnight after the company filed trade marks for the terms ‘Dragons Of Tarkir’ and ‘Khans Of Tarkir’, and hints at new developments for the popular trading card game Magic: The Gathering.

The ‘Magic Origins’ trade mark was filed on March 4 by the US headquarters of Wizards of the Coast and a Sydney-based legal representative, Baker & McKenzie.

The domain MagicOrigins.com, which has no content, was registered in January by a hidden registrar (image).